Gay and Bright
by osirisapollo
Summary: Sam and Mary find out about budding relationship between Dean and Castiel. This is a sequel to 'True and Faithful Be' and 'Afforded the Greatest Glee'. It makes small references to what happened in those fics, but you probably don't have to read them to keep up. PART 4 of the 'O Christmas Tree' series


Waking up excited on Christmas morning was not something the Winchesters were used to. Even when they did celebrate the holiday it was always just whenever they had time to throw a couple of cheesy gifts at each other. Not that the boys wanted their mother to know that.

They had cooked up a whole plan to keep Mary in the dark about some of the less than awesome parts of their childhood. They could celebrate the holidays as if they had always done so, and Mary would be none the wiser. It had worked out well so far. And even if they had to do tons of research before Thanksgiving, they had pulled that one off without a hitch. Surviving Christmas should be a piece of cake.

There were about a million movies that showed them exactly how to do it, and the boys just acted like it was holiday tradition to watch them all in the days leading up to the big event. Mary looked a little skeptical at that, but hadn't said anything to them. They figured she probably didn't want to know, almost as much as they didn't want her to know.

So, the family had decorated the main room of the bunker. They had even gotten a tree that was tall enough to almost brush the ceiling when the star had been placed at the top. The boys had covered every inch of it in lights, and it looked tacky as hell, but it was their tree and they were proud anyway.

Underneath the tree were a ridiculous number of presents, although they only bought each other one present each. It only seemed like a lot to them because they only ever received one present each, if they did anything at all. It was all very domestic and wonderful.

Sam had been the first to wake up, and knowing his brother was planning to sleep in was all the motivation he needed to rush into Dean's room like the bunker was on fire.

"Whaa..what is it, Sam?" Dean rolled out of bed, pulling the demon knife out from under his pillow and landing on his feet in one smooth motion.

"It's Christmas!" Sam grinned evilly and clapped his hands together drawing his brother's attention from the still open door. "Let's go see what Santa brought us."

Dean glared at his brother with as much hatred as he could muster at the early hour, flopping face first back into his bed. "Fuck off." He grumbled into it.

"Well, that's just not the Christmas spirit, Dean! Do I have to get your mother involved?"

Dean had yet to develop defenses against his mother. The other hunter groaned, pulling a pillow over his head and used a form of sign language to tell his brother how he felt about the idea. Sam just grinned at the finger, heading out to see if Mary was awake yet.

When everyone had finally gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, Dean seemed to be in a much better mood. It took no convincing at all to get him to make them all some food. It wasn't even like a regular breakfast, with french toast added to the regular eggs and bacon. They were completely stuffed by the time they made it to the Christmas tree.

Dean nominated himself to be Santa, and no one argued with it. He grinned as he passed out presents, clearly enjoying himself. Castiel looked confused by his stack.

"You didn't think we would forget about you, did you?" Sam asked him, patting the angel on the shoulder.

"Dean and I agreed that I would forfeit my gifts so that the children could have them." Castiel seemed confused that Sam didn't seem to know about that already.

Dean looked a little guilty when he heard what they were talking about. "I uh… forgot to tell you. That credit card we got last month might be pretty close to maxed out."

"Dean! How the hell did that happen? That was one of the highest credit limits we've ever gotten!" Sam tried to take a deep breath and steady himself. He was not going to spend Christmas yelling at his brother.

"It wasn't my fault! Cas wanted to adopt a baby, and it was way more expensive than the kid I adopted!"

Sam's mouth hung open at the words. They had allowed his brother to adopt children? Who were these people?

Dean seemed to realize his words as soon as he was done saying them, and he blushed as he rushed to explain himself further. "For Christmas! We adopted some angels from a tree, and got them gifts for Christmas."

Mary looked confused for a moment, but understanding seemed to dawn fairly quickly. Sam still had many questions.

"What?"

Dean took a deep breath to steady himself before he continued his explanation. "There was a tree at one of the stores downtown. It was covered in angels that represented children in need for the holiday. You're supposed to adopt one and buy the kids gifts for Christmas. Cas wouldn't let me leave without getting one. I got a little boy a bunch of race cars and stuff, and Cas picked out a baby. We had to buy it like bottles and crap. It added up pretty quickly." Dean seemed satisfied with his wording now, and returned to handing out gifts.

"I agreed to forgo my own presents in order to choose my angel." Castiel added.

"Well, I forgot to tell them, so I guess you get presents anyway." Dean said casually, shrugging his shoulders and handing Sam the last remaining gift.

Sam was suspicious. There was no way Dean just "forgot" about all of those things. Not to mention Castiel still had three gifts.

"This one is from you, Dean."

Sam's suspicions ratched up a notch when he saw the barest hint of red cross his brother's cheeks.

"Well I had already gotten your gift before we made that deal. Why do you think I only let you get two angels?"

Sam was not convinced, and Castiel didn't look like he was either. No one mentioned it, and soon they were all too busy tearing apart fancy wrapping paper to worry about it further.

Sam had received a very cool new blender that should cut his smoothie making time in half, at least. He took it into the kitchen to show Mary how to work it. She had started showing interest in trying some of the healthier lifestyle choices that Sam liked to make. He didn't know if she was interested in changing some of her own eating habits, or was just trying to show interest in things he was interested in. It didn't matter to him either way. He loved having her around.

Sam showed her how to operate his new contraption by making them a couple of less than healthy ice cream smoothies with banana and strawberry. He figured baby steps might be the best choice.

Mary decided to make them some quick sandwiches for lunch, and Sam grabbed two of them and headed back out to the main room to feed his brother.

His eyebrows shot into his hairline and he immediately took a step back so he would be out of sight. Well, that was not what Sam thought he'd see when he walked into the library. Although, it certainly explained some of the changes he'd seen in his brother in the last week or so.

Ever since Dean had taken the angel holiday shopping they had been nearly inseparable. Well, more so than usual. Castiel had even helped cook dinner the night before.

They both also seemed to be in an uncommonly good mood. Sam had attributed it to Christmas spirit and having the family together. That was clearly not the case. At least it wasn't the only thing making the two of them happy.

Sam saw the shadow of his mother in the kitchen doorway and knew he'd have to do something about it now, if he was going to get a chance. Mary was about to walk into the room and catch her eldest son full on making out with an angel of the lord. He couldn't allow his mother to be traumatized like that. He hollered across the room to his brother.

"I'm not sure that's what they meant by 'make the yuletide gay'."

Dean jumped back about three feet away from the angel. The scowl that crossed his face was seriously downgraded by the bright flush across his cheeks.

Mary came into the room just in time to see what had been going on. Not that she would have been confused for long if she hadn't. Castiel was still rooted to his spot underneath the mistletoe, and while Dean had the sense to try to make himself look a little less debauched, the angel didn't. There were very few conclusions that could be made by the sight, and they were probably all right.

The look on the woman's face quickly melted from surprise to utter amusement. Within seconds she was laughing, and Sam couldn't help but join in. He actually hadn't meant to call his brother out quite like that, but Mary's reaction was great enough to be worth whatever retribution his brother could come up with.

Dean looked equal amounts pissed off and embarrassed, while Castiel looked more like he was trying not to join Mary and Sam in their laughter. It took them a moment to calm down, but as soon as they did Dean finally broke.

"Alright, it's not that funny." He shared his glare between the two of them.

Sam turned to look at his mother, who might have had actual tears of mirth in the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah, Dean. Yeah it was."

"Well I'm glad the two of you are enjoying yourselves." Dean pouted and crossed his arms over his chest while he watched Mary giggle.

"Well, you two can't be the only ones having a good time around here!" She told him. Sam covered his mouth in an effort to hide his reaction to her comment, but she did not seem have the same reservations.

She continued to giggle at him, pausing only long enough to choke out something that sounded suspiciously like "make the yuletide gay" before falling into giggles again.

"So, you and Cas huh?" Sam said quietly, sitting down in the chair nearest his brother. Dean was watching Castiel teach their mother the joys of using emoticons in her texts. It was a pretty good show. Sam wondered idly if he knew what the eggplant was for and was amused by his own thought.

"Yeah…" Dean trailed off, possibly unwilling to discuss the subject. Too bad Sam was so good at getting things out of his brother.

"How did that happen?" He didn't want to push too hard and make his brother withdraw, but he was honestly curious. "How long?"

Dean's face became a little red tinged at the question, which caused Sam to raise an eyebrow. His brother had never been shy about things like this before. Although he'd never really had anything quite like this before.

"Since we went out the other day." Dean turned his head a bit and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was trying to hide his face.

"Was that like a date?" Sam was surprised. When his brother had announced he was taking the angel shopping he had poked a little fun, but he hadn't really thought anything about it. He was just kidding. Apparently his jibe had been a bit closer to home then he'd realized.

"Uh, kinda. Not that I thought it was going anywhere." Dean looked incredibly uncomfortable, but if he was still answering questions and that could only be a good sign.

"But it did?" Sam was not about to give up until he knew the whole story. It might be his only opportunity if his brother was willing to talk now.

"Yeah. Yeah it did." Dean sighed and ran one of his hands through his hair. He still refused to meet Sam's eyes, but he at least looked a little less like he could bolt at any second. Silence descended on them for a minute and Sam allowed it, letting his brother gather himself a bit.

"I kissed him." Dean finally met his eyes and Sam wondered if he was waiting for the taller man to say something disparaging.

Sam just sighed and rolled his eyes. He had only hinted that he'd known about Dean's feelings about ninety million times. "Finally."

Dean glanced in the direction of his angel and mother again, likely making sure they weren't paying attention. "Really? That's all you're going to say?" Even though he said it calmly it had an edge of fear that Sam hated.

"What do you want me to say? I'm not blind Dean. It's been like seven years. If I had a problem with it, I probably would have said something by now. Don't you think?" He looked directly into his brother's eyes, making sure he got the point across.

"You're really okay with this." Dean seemed surprised, which hurt a little. Like Sam would ever be able to hold something like that against his brother.

"Okay with what?" Mary's voice came into the conversation, causing both boys to jump. Castiel was standing behind her with a pleased look on his face. He smiled at Sam and the hunter returned it. He wanted Cas to know that he was alright with whatever was happening too.

"Nevermind, Mom." Dean deflected, a look of panic crossing his face.

"Dean was just telling me he kissed Cas the other day when they were shopping. Now he can't seem to keep his tongue in his own mouth." Sam couldn't help himself. Mary had made it pretty clear earlier that she had no problem with whatever was going on between her son and the angel.

"I did not say that!" Dean was blushing again. Sam honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his brother blush, let alone do it as many times as he had this day.

Mary seemed to realize that what they had stumbled upon earlier was a new development and not just something they had been keeping from her. It visibly brightened her spirits. The angel looked startled when she turned to him.

"Was it terribly romantic? Tell me all about it!"

Dean sunk low into his chair and covered his face with his hands. Sam grinned, this could only be good.

"No, it wasn't." Castiel answered, and Dean's head popped up to look at the angel. "He kissed me in an alley. It was dark. And dirty. And smelled."

Dean actually chuckled at the answer, until his mother smacked him on the arm with an exclaimed "Dean!"

"Ow! What! He's lying!" Dean pointed toward the angel who was suspiciously trying to look innocent. The look that passed over the hunter's face said he regretted the outburst immediately.

Sam's look of confusion traveled from his brother to the angel that wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. "Cas, are you lying?" He hadn't really ever thought about Castiel lying to them before, and he wondered why he would do something like that now.

"Yes." The angel answered immediately, causing Dean to groan.

"Why?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"Dean asked me to."

Sam's gaze snapped to his brother who was burying himself in his chair again.

"Dean, why did you ask Castiel to lie?" Mary seemed just as confused about the situation as Sam was.

"You guys do not need to know." Dean crossed his arms over his chest in a move that said he was done talking about it.

It was that continued reluctance that made Sam realize what was really happening, and his face split into a grin before he could help himself. "It's something horribly cheesy and romantic isn't it? You don't want us to know you're trying to seduce an angel with sweetness."

Sam almost laughed at the horrified look on his brother's face.

"No!"

"Oh my god. I can see right through you! Did you take him ice skating? Or did you already pull that mistletoe move?"

Dean's face morphed into a glare. "No."

"Did you build a snowman together? Maybe you took a carriage ride through the snow?"

Dean gave him an unamused glare. "Did it snow while we were gone? Half the shit you're saying isn't even possible."

"Maybe you guys went to see Santa. Or you went to see the nutcracker. Or you..."

"Jesus Sam! It was the damn Christmas tree!"

Sam glanced up to gauge the angel's reaction to the admission. Castiel had turned his attention away from the group, but a small smile was tugging at the corner of his lips.

"The Christmas tree?" How the hell was there a Christmas tree involved? That didn't sound very romantic.

"The giant goddamn tree in the middle of the city." Dean looked angry that Sam had gotten the admission out of him, but Sam was busy picturing his brother macking on an angel underneath a giant Christmas tree. Well, shit. No wonder he was embarrassed. That was seriously cute.

Mary seemed to be holding back a squeal of delight, perhaps interpreting that it would not be well received by her son. She schooled her face into a more serious expression. "Well, that is much better then a dark alley." She couldn't hold back all of her amusement though, and her face split into a smile.

"Alright, shut up. You got your amusement." Dean glared at Sam as if it was all his fault. "Come on, Cas." He hopped up from the group and headed for the door.

The angel's attention snapped to the hunter immediately, but he didn't move. When he realized the angel wasn't following him Dean threw another comment over his shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure I saw some mistletoe in the kitchen."

The angel spared Sam and his mother a guilty smile before he followed the other man's lead.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Sam turned to his mother. She was turning to him as well, and at the same time they both commented.

"Awwwww." And then proceeded to crack up.

It was definitely the best Christmas Sam had ever had. And with his mother home for good, and the angel effectively joining the family, Sam could hope for many more to come.


End file.
